Found 1 High Severity Vulnerability, Kroger Payroll Department, Graceland Volleyball Roster, John Hemphill Face Makeup, What Happens To George Warleggan In Poldark, Articles C

There were also two spots on his heart, which were "soft markers" for Down's syndrome. Where we were living then at the time you only had a scan at 20 weeks. I noticed the box of tissues on the table. I was sat on the sofa working, my son was at nursery and my partner was in the bath. Dont worry we wont send you spam or share your email address with anyone. Several women had taken young children with them to the 20-week scan because they expected to see 'nice pictures of the baby'. Registered office: Nicholas House, 3 Laurence Pountney Hill, London, EC4R 0BB. We scattered his ashes over a bunch of snowdrops. I was young, I didn't need one. Saturday came. That they could have spotted something, or not? Instead, I had to raise a glass of water to my mouth, take a swig and swallow the tablet. To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account. So we went home really and I sort of had to think about it all night. Later, I did see and hold our baby. And in this instance the scan was very evident that there was something very seriously wrong. Mumsnet carries some affiliate marketing links, so if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale (more details here). Our baby was beautiful. The sonographer then passes a hand-held probe over your skin to examine the babys body. The same anxious wait for a little, pathetic cry. You get extra care and monitoring as appropriate and baby is proactively treated. I returned to be told they wanted to scan me again, another internal to see exactly what was happening. And, it does not occur to you in the slightest. [Husband] couldn't make it. But you know I knew we had, we had to make a decision that was right for the baby as well. Please ask your hospital about this before your appointment. I was then told yet again bad news. You will then be asked to raise your top to your chest and lower your skirt or trousers to your hips. We're going to go and see them. It would be a personal tragedy for my partner and me, but that is all. 15/02/2014 08:02. So when that happened to us I really didn't worry, I thought, you know, it was literally the baby was in awkward position, they couldn't see the heart and that was why. My heart goes out to you OP. The ultimate betrayal. And the doctor - because it was a doctor rather then just the, a sonographer or whatever the correct term is - was scanning my wife, and she hovered over the heart of the baby and said, 'Oh there's the heart, we'll come back to that'. Sometimes doctors will wait to give the baby more time to develop and carry out repeat scans - this had confused several parents we talked to who had gone for repeat scans not knowing that the baby might have a problem. Tissue paper will be tucked around your clothing to protect it from the ultrasound gel, which will then be put on your tummy. If you are not sure, you can contact them and ask. Though the 18-20 week scan can detect when certain parts of the baby's body have grown abnormally, it may not be possible for clinicians to identify why it has happened or make a firm diagnosis based on the scan alone. I was told that while bad news at the 12 w scan is often of the life or death kind, bad news at the 20 week scan is often of the 'needs an operation in childhood' or 'needs to wear a brace for a year' kind. And shortly after that, that scan we'd finished and the consultant leant back and said, 'I'm afraid we have some problems here'. Any delay in receiving more information about the abnormality and its implications will be distressing for women and this should be acknowledged. These were said to be soft markers fo a range of trisomies, 2 of which were incompatible with life. By this time, we were tired. He started to scan me with a cold expression, then told me, "it didn't look good" and that "my womb looked raggedy". Health professionals use the 18-20 week scan to examine the baby's size and position, and also to check if his/her brain, heart, lungs and other internal organs are developing as expected. It is essential that all practitioners performing fetal anomaly ultrasound screening should be trained to communicate abnormal findings to women, as such information is likely to have significant emotional impact. But here I was, minutes later, lying down, waiting. On January 18, my baby was born, at 23 weeks - a little boy. And I couldn't escape the feeling that I was being selfish. Eventually she got the measurements she wanted. It was probably all right but hadn't had any fluid in it at the moment. Severe chromosomal conditions such as Edwards' syndrome are now often picked up in the first trimester antenatal screening but itwill usually be more obviousat the 18- 20 week scan, though usually a firm diagnosis will not be made until one or two specialists have weighed up all available evidence about the baby - which usually means that another expert needs to scan the baby again, or until the woman has had an amniocentesis. I think it's the same - in fact I think it was probably the same room, same consultant - and [sighs] I suppose it felt upsetting because at the dating scan you're full of hope and this scan we knew wasn't going to be good, we knew it was maybe the last time we would see the baby moving around. That's fine. chances of bad news at 20 week scan mumsnet. An hour passed and I started to panic. I remember thinking, 'that doesn't look quite right'. Your mind has closed to the possibility that there could be anything wrong. We need to have your opinion'. Several parents said they would have preferred being told something, even it was vague. BabyCenter. Limitations of the 18-20 week scan This time, they discovered the baby has a two vessel cord (only one vessel from placenta to baby instead of two) and I've been monitored to make sure the baby grows properly and kidneys aren't damaged. So obviously quite relaxed. I think the whole experience has made me a pretty nasty person. Instead, we were shown to a room slightly away from the rest of the ward and the midwife stayed with us to talk through what was going to happen. So carried on with the plans, and, you know, planning for the, another baby to come along and then we went for a 20- week scan which is obviously the big one and very exciting, seeing all the arms and legs and once again everything was going fine, 'Look here's the baby, here's the length of baby'. Very occasionally this second scan cannot be completed, for example because: In this case you will not be offered another screening scan but you will offered an all over physical examination for your baby after birth. Next most likely (but actually in the minority) they identify something which whilst not 100% healthy is treatable. But on, in the middle of March, 10th March it was, we had a 20 week scan. Eventually, the midwife said to us very sweetly, "I think we should deliver the baby now." I had never imagined having an amniocentesis. Some hospitals do offer earlier anomaly scans of the baby, but they will not show as much detail as scans performed between 18 and 20weeks. He was sure the consultant on Monday would see that the measurements were completely normal and that there was nothing to worry about. We spent the next few weeks in a happy bubble. I pray it's just her heart but I can't see anything else is wrong as I have been scanned by a consultant since I was 14 weeks and every time he has said everything looks okay and she is growing consistently. So I sort of went home quite, fairly kind of happy and I, at, at this point I hadn't any idea things could go wrong anyway. At this point it wasn't looking great. Trying to carry on as normal, working and putting on a brave face. Then, three days later, I would go to the labour ward - the ward I had been expecting to visit in two and a half months. How common is it for 2nd baby to come early..? When I told him what had happened, he refused to believe anything was wrong and said he'd sort it out when he came home. So I was, they couldn't actually finish the scan then, the baby was moving around too much, so they couldn't scan the heart and the stomach. It was all going wrong and I wanted to get as far away from the hospital as possible. But I still didn't want to be the one who stopped this baby's chance to live. Purpose of screening. She just said, 'It's a bit short, it needs to be checked' again basically. Next most likely is that baby doesn't co-operate and they can't see some parts of anatomy and call you back 2 weeks later just because they couldn't see (i had this but because twin pregnancy I was due to be scanned 2 weeks later anyway). I had an appointment with my consultant 2 days later, and again he said, you know, 'Very common - shouldn't worry about it too much, you know, if, the problem is if they find anything else wrong'. Immediately I knew what decision we should take. As I was called for my scan I was nervous and emotional. This was on the Friday. And how wrong could they be? Except for the persistent, nagging doubts. blood tests, CVS) were clear - and as one woman put it, 'after the triple test* (Down's syndrome screening) you stop thinking anything can go wrong'. They would then re-test me in two days time. I know I could have delivered him in a quarter of the time, but I couldn't bear the thought of him leaving me. But it's bloody hard being miserable the whole time. Entering the labour ward, I waited for someone to say, "Go home, you are 16 weeks too early." . And I knew there was no way out. Some of the other conditions, such as heart defects, are more difficult to see. Nice people shouldn't hear about what we'd done. I think I was about 20 weeks cos they, the hospital I think did the 12 and the 20, that was their standard thing and, yeah, so I got the 20 weeks one. No discussion, no quiet contemplation. I was sent home with a leaflet, strong painkillers and two types of antibiotics. As I lay down, and the sonographer started, I could see there was something wrong. So at 20 weeks I went for my scan with my husband, with my daughter, to get our photographs. And as, and as soon as I saw the pictures of the scan, having had two normal pregnancies, even I could see that there was a marked contrast between this pregnancy and the pictures that I'd had previously. I felt sad, but not the complete devastation of the last scan as they had seen a change of some sort. Many parents were shocked by findings from the 20-week and later scans. It was, 'Oh we'll come back to that'. You might be offered another test to find out for certain if your baby has one of the conditions. Originally I hadn't wanted to go down that road. And you know, we were laughing and joking. Ending a pregnancy for fetal abnormality - The 18-20 week antenatal And, faced with feeling sorry for myself or feeling sorry for my child, I know which I'd choose. So we left it there, and we didn't actually think that there was anything really to worry about after that scan. We were convinced everything would be OK. We went, I went in to the scanning room and they're quite bland facially anyway, whether everything's fine or not they just look at the screen to start off with and do measurements but I very quickly realised that the woman's demeanour wasn't, even for a bland face, was concerning. The same sense of expectation. Tears started to roll down my face. We've joined the grown-ups and we both feel very different. I felt more informed, and I felt that that was what I needed in my head to see you know, that I've got to accept now that this, all these things are real on the screen and this was really my baby that's suffering all these things [sighs], but I was sad as well. Intellectually, I knew this was not the case. Has anyone been told the wrong sex at 20 week scan? The rarest scenario is that the baby is severely ill and choices will need to be made. By this point I had stopped bleeding, this caused problems. Do you have any thoughts about that? Have I misunderstood what's going on?' The weeks since that day have been very weird. I had to wait for a doctor to explain the situation. By 7pm, I still hadn't delivered the baby. And I am slowly coming to terms with what has happened. As soon as we arrived, we were shown to this little room. I have a terrible hatred of pregnant women and a new respect for infertile couples. 12/12/2012 22:41. Well, at the regional hospital it was a 3-D scan. 18-20 week scans provide clinicians with more information than earlier scans because by18 weeks a healthy baby should be larger and better developed. And at that point I don't think we, I don't think we realised that there might have to be a decision, because we'd talked about it with, with Down's and the other possible problems, but at this point it was, well okay what can be done to fix the problem - because yes the heart's not developing properly but there must be something we can do. Sometimes doctors will wait to give the baby more time to develop and carry out repeat scans - this had confused several parents we talked to who had gone for repeat scans not knowing that the baby might have a problem. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) have produced a report on Termination of Pregnancy for Fetal Abnormality in England, Scotland and Wales (May 2010). It's quite common, perhaps 1 in 10 they find these, and within a few weeks they disappear. We had the same conversation, but obviously were not making any sense to her at all. . He started to scan me with a cold expression, then told me, 'it didn't look good' and that 'my womb looked raggedy'. Specialist scans had a powerful effect on some parents because they could see the baby more clearly and in some cases people recognised which parts of the baby's body were not working properly. We had to discuss what we wanted to do with the little body after delivery. We were told to go to the hospital immediately. My wife had been very, very healthy, more healthy than the first pregnancy, and of course was shattered by the fact that the news, the news was appalling, very serious faces. The scan will look in detail at your babys bones, heart, brain, spinal cord, face, kidneys and abdomen. My partner watched the baby come out, and for a split second I saw a look of joy on his face. Or, at the very least, heart problems. She didn't say at the time that it was a major problem or that it was something to watch out for. I remember thinking, 'Gosh' I now know it was a girl, I didn't know that then, that, 'She looks just like her brother'. After preparing myself to face having to take the medication. The midwife was on the verge of tears and I felt responsible. Though the 18-20 week scan can detect when certain parts of the baby's body have grown abnormally, it may not be possible for clinicians to identify why it has happened or make a firm diagnosis based on the scan alone. Those two weeks were agonising for us both. There was cause for concern. On the next shift, the new midwife asked us again. He bluntly told me, he wasn't interested in whatever was seen before, he was only going to go by what he saw that day. The gel makes sure there is good contact between the probe and your skin. It went from bad, to worse, to worse, to dire, then to better. I used to think the feeling of your baby kicking inside you and the sight of a foot poking against your skin were the most fantastic things in the world. We didn't name him. And I thought that if I were faced with the possibility of having an amnio, hours of discussion would follow - I would spend days mulling it over. As though I went power mad for a week, killing my innocent unborn child, and now I am tainted for ever. So I lay on the bed and my partner sat next to me. For example, the babys brain, kidneys, internal organs or bones may not have developed properly. Specialist scans are performed in specialist fetal units and if clinicians feel that there might be problems scanning will be done up to 32 weeks. So we went back the day after Boxing Day, the 27th, and the consultant greeted us, which made my alarm bells go, and she started scanning us and I think her lines were, 'What concerns me about this baby is that they've got a diaphragmatic hernia, which has meant that part of the stomach of the baby was in its chest cavity.'. Because, when you're angry with the world for dealing you such a shit time, you begin to hate the people who populate it. Good luck has not come easily over the past few years. 'I was having nightmares and panic attacks. Could you tell? And I assumed my partner would feel the same. We'd sort of put those discussions to the back of our mind, and then all of a sudden there are other abnormalities so yeah it was a bit a bit of a shocker [laughs]. The sonographer told me to take the notes, and the scan photos with me so they could review them also. Soon, the doctor came and inserted the tablets that would induce labour. He then told us what the prognosis would mean for the child. Surely he couldn't have missed anything else that is so serious x. And the first few things they said it didn't sound as thing, as though things were terribly wrong. The doctor explained the options I had to manage my miscarriage. What were babys measurements at 20 week scan? Impact of the 20-week and later specialist scans Enough for two weeks after he had been cremated. But he was not sure. I've realised that being a nice person is a luxury some can't afford.